Firefighters cut an 81-year-old man's fingers free after he got them stuck in a fire guard.

Crews rushed to Bilsington around 11.15pm yesterday to cut the man free.

The pensioner had tried to move the back plate of his log burner, but part of it fell down and caught his fingers between the front guard and the back plate.

Two pumps were sent to the scene where crews spent an hour cutting the plate with a hacksaw to free his fingers.

Firefighter Nathan Pavey said: "We were thinking of getting a disc cutter on it but we managed to hack through the cast iron plate where his fingers were stuck with a hacksaw."

Luckily the man escaped with only minor injuries, including cuts and bruises to his fingers.